After a rare snowstorm shut down Flea Market Tallahassee, local business owners decided to come together to open a flea market of their own, with renewed purpose and strong support from local entrepreneurs.
Tallahassee Flea Market Exchange’s tentative open date is Oct. 10. Eugene Larry, President of the Tallahassee Flea Market Exchange, announced the new beginning after a snowstorm shut down Flea Market Tallahassee. Watch the video below to learn how vendors feel about the new Flea Market coming to Tallahassee. Tallahassee Flea Market Exchange set to open new location for local vendors
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Get ready. Tallahassee’s Flea Market Exchange is opening next month.
Local Business leaders have come together to create a new Flea Market for Tallahassee.
Vendors and organizers are already preparing for what they hope will become a new weekend tradition.
“You never know who you are going to run into at the flea market,” said co-owner of Midtown and 3rd, Eric McKinnon.
For more than 40 years, Flea Market Tallahassee was a gathering place for neighbors on the weekends.
But this year, a rare snowstorm ripped through the area.
The damage forced Flea Market Tallahassee to close its doors permanently, leaving local businesses without a place to sell their products. Until Tallahassee Flea Market Exchange stepped in.
Eugene Larry, the president of the Tallahassee Flea Market Exchange, said, “I just want to say to the community at large that I and a couple of other investors felt your pain, we felt your anguish.”
Larry says the market will soon set up shop in Capital Circle. He hopes the new market will revitalize the south side and give local entrepreneurs a place to grow.
Eugene said, “It’s a sense of belonging, a sense of responsibility to our community, our community as well. There are a lot of jobs lot and businesses closing down on the south side, so to be able to have that opportunity to reach back and create something that will support our community, that to me is the most important, exciting thing there is.”
The change will benefit local businesses like Midtown and 3rd.
But they say the market is more than just buying and selling.
McKinnon said, “It actually means a lot to us, being able to be vendors. We get out. It’s exposure. We know that a lot of other people miss the other flea market. It was an outing. People get to go out as a family. They go out, and they shop economically. So for us to be able to be a part of that and help as a vendor out there, it really means a lot to us because we’re from Tallahassee.”
The market is expected to open on October 10 at 4721 Capital Circle Southwest.
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